“But Gosh, ABC Had George Lopez:” A Friendly Letter From The Folks At NBC News

Yesterday, ABC’s Note included a “Dear Mr. President,” complete with a three paragraph description of “Average Joe: The Joes Strike Back.” You see, NBC was planning to air its regular primetime schedule, so the Note said: “At this writing, as far as we know, here’s what is on NBC instead of you.”Of course, NBC decided to air the President’s speech after all, and it aired a post-game show until 9pm, while ABC returned to sitcoms. So, with that said, this is the letter that’s floating around NBC News today:

Dear Mr. President: RE: ABC’S THE NOTE, JUNE 28th EDITION Just wanted to correct any misimpression you may have gotten from that cute letter you received yesterday from our friends at ABC’s THE NOTE … you know, the one that tweaked us here at NBC for allegedly deciding to run “Average Joe” while ABC carried your speech at Fort Bragg?I’m sure the folks at THE NOTE are even now writing a follow-up letter apologizing for their mistake, and explaining ABC’s peculiar decision to skip in-depth analysis of your speech so that they could get to their own breathlessly anticipated re-run of GEORGE LOPEZ. (“George takes a stroll down Memory Pain when Benny demands cash for a box of George’s childhood memorabilia. George gets to the bottom of some painful moments and truths from his boyhood.”) While Charlie Gibson was going off the air and ABC viewers were settling in to explore George’s boyhood (George Lopez, not you), NBC viewers watched Brian Williams lead full coverage of the speech including analysis from Tim Russert, live reaction from House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, live reaction from the front lines in Iraq, discussion between Senator Joe Biden and Senator John Warner, and actual breaking news from Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski (reporting on the chopper crash in Afghanistan), White House correspondent Kelly O’Donnell (reporting on the response among Army personnel in the room) and Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell (reporting on the administration’s planned reaction to the Silbermann/Robb commission). If you wanted to see how real Americans reacted, you could watch MSNBC, where Chris Matthews led a fascinating town hall meeting from Nashville, Tennessee with hundreds of people who watched your speech. And of course, you could get our coverage in your limo on NBC Radio, NBC Mobile and MSNBC.COM.But gosh, ABC had George Lopez. Sincerely,The Folks At NBC News